Evan Longoria’s 10-pitch at-bat in the seventh inning of Friday’s 5-3 loss to the Cardinals qualifies as both, but it was a journey worth recounting.

With Cardinals right-hander Jordan Hicks firing fastballs above 100 miles per hour, Longoria hit six foul balls before dribbling a game-tying grounder to first base to tie the game.

Two other Giants, Alen Hanson and Gregor Blanco, had recorded singles on 102-mile per hour sinkers earlier in the inning, but Longoria’s at-bat provided the most entertainment value.

“What a great at-bat, huh?” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s really playing great baseball on both sides. Defensively, he’s swinging the bat well and he really fought hard up there.”

After fouling off three sliders and two sinkers, Longoria took a 1-2 pitch that would leave the average human being concerned about their long-term health. A 101.3-mile per hour offering whizzed right by Longoria’s face at eye level, dropping him to the ground in the batter’s box.

“I’m just happy it didn’t hit me,” Longoria said. “He’s obviously trying to make pitches there and the pitch, I came in and looked at it, it was supposed to be in.”

Somehow, Longoria recovered.

When Hicks threw the next pitch at 101.2 miles per hour off the outside corner, Longoria stuck his bat out and poked another foul ball.

“It actually was away, away, I was just flailing and trying to spoil a pitch,” he said.

After dropping to the ground on the eighth pitch of the at-bat and reaching off the outer half to make contact with the ninth, Longoria sent Hicks’ 10th pitch on the ground to the right side of the infield.

On a night when the Giants struck out 16 times in nine innings, Longoria managed to put the ball in play against Hicks and bring a run home. The run ultimately came in a losing effort, but in a game that featured three Longoria base hits, his best at-bat may have been the one that resulted in an out.

As Longoria noted, Hicks’ fastball isn’t just the hardest in the game. It’s also extremely difficult to pick up.

That doesn’t mean that all pitches with the same velocity appear identical, though.

“I think that’s probably the value of the spin rate evaluation,” Longoria said. “If guys have really high spin rates but they’re only throwing 93-94, usually it kind of plays up. If a guy throws 95-96 and he spins the ball really well, it usually looks harder.”

Panik starts at first

For the first time in his major league career, Joe Panik will play first base.

Panik will become the eighth different player to appear in a game at first base for the Giants this year, matching the team’s total from a season ago.

Panik said he couldn’t recall the last time he played first base and admitted it may be the first time he’s ever done so in a competitive game. After the Giants played a three-plus hour game Friday, Panik was out early taking grounders at first base before Saturday’s matinee game.

Four teams in the San Francisco era have used nine different first basemen in the same season, but the 1899 New York Giants hold the franchise record as they played 10 different first basemen.